The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia

Micronutrient deficiency is among the most significant public health problems in Ethiopia. In this setting, food fortification has been identified as a cost-effective and sustainable strategy to deliver essential micronutrients. Safety certification and nutrition education messages can be used to nu...

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Main Authors: Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw, Melesse, Mequanint B., Berg, Marrit van den
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Springer 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126295
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author Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw
Melesse, Mequanint B.
Berg, Marrit van den
author_browse Berg, Marrit van den
Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw
Melesse, Mequanint B.
author_facet Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw
Melesse, Mequanint B.
Berg, Marrit van den
author_sort Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Micronutrient deficiency is among the most significant public health problems in Ethiopia. In this setting, food fortification has been identified as a cost-effective and sustainable strategy to deliver essential micronutrients. Safety certification and nutrition education messages can be used to nudge people to choose fortified foods. However, there is little evidence as to the effectiveness of such interventions in this context. This paper aims to fill this gap. We focus on cooking oil, as it has been identified as an ideal candidate for vitamin A fortification in Ethiopia. To study consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for safety certification and vitamin A fortification, we implemented a stated choice experiment on 996 randomly selected urban consumers to reveal preferences required to calculate WTP. To estimate the causal effect of messages on consumers’ WTP for fortification, a nutrition message on the benefits of vitamin A was provided to 518 randomly selected participants. We found that consumers valued safety certification. This finding holds for certification issued by both government and private parties, with a higher value ascribed to the former. We also found that urban consumers were willing to pay a premium for vitamin A fortification. The nutrition message increased WTP for fortification, albeit only slightly. Finally, we found that the effect of safety certification on consumers’ WTP for fortified cooking oil was higher than its effect on WTP for non-fortified oil, indicating that urban consumers value certification even more when fortification is involved.
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spelling CGSpace1262952024-11-07T09:55:36Z The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw Melesse, Mequanint B. Berg, Marrit van den trace elements nutrient deficiency public health food fortification nutrition education cooking oils vitamin a consumers urban populations governance development food science Micronutrient deficiency is among the most significant public health problems in Ethiopia. In this setting, food fortification has been identified as a cost-effective and sustainable strategy to deliver essential micronutrients. Safety certification and nutrition education messages can be used to nudge people to choose fortified foods. However, there is little evidence as to the effectiveness of such interventions in this context. This paper aims to fill this gap. We focus on cooking oil, as it has been identified as an ideal candidate for vitamin A fortification in Ethiopia. To study consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for safety certification and vitamin A fortification, we implemented a stated choice experiment on 996 randomly selected urban consumers to reveal preferences required to calculate WTP. To estimate the causal effect of messages on consumers’ WTP for fortification, a nutrition message on the benefits of vitamin A was provided to 518 randomly selected participants. We found that consumers valued safety certification. This finding holds for certification issued by both government and private parties, with a higher value ascribed to the former. We also found that urban consumers were willing to pay a premium for vitamin A fortification. The nutrition message increased WTP for fortification, albeit only slightly. Finally, we found that the effect of safety certification on consumers’ WTP for fortified cooking oil was higher than its effect on WTP for non-fortified oil, indicating that urban consumers value certification even more when fortification is involved. 2023-04 2022-12-23T12:45:20Z 2022-12-23T12:45:20Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126295 en Open Access Springer Jada, Kaleb S.; Melesse, Mequanint B.; and van den Berg, Marrit. 2022. The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia. Food Security
spellingShingle trace elements
nutrient deficiency
public health
food fortification
nutrition education
cooking oils
vitamin a
consumers
urban populations
governance
development
food science
Jada, Kaleb Shiferaw
Melesse, Mequanint B.
Berg, Marrit van den
The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
title The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
title_full The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
title_fullStr The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
title_short The effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban Ethiopia
title_sort effects of safety certification and nutrition messaging on the demand for nutritionally enhanced food in urban ethiopia
topic trace elements
nutrient deficiency
public health
food fortification
nutrition education
cooking oils
vitamin a
consumers
urban populations
governance
development
food science
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/126295
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